


The Story Of Our Lives.

by anonymustotalus



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-08
Updated: 2014-01-08
Packaged: 2018-01-04 02:27:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1075447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anonymustotalus/pseuds/anonymustotalus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Niall went to visit her cousin Eleanor he would never imagine how his life would change. He was supposed to spend the summer with her, but due to all the bullying he had received in his high school in Ireland, he decided to spent the whole year with his cousin and uncle in England.</p><p>What he didn’t expected was that he would fall in love with the coolest guy in High School, who was also the captain of the football team.<br/>He didn't expected to find some awesome friends along the way.<br/>And he didn't expected to feel genuinely happy for the first time.<br/>So, what will happen when the year ends and he'll have to go back to Ireland?</p><p>Or the one where Niall is the new guy and the coolest boy in the high school falls in love with him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I.

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this a long time ago and it's not finished, it probably has a lot of mistakes so I'm sorry. I plan on finish this but I just don't know when. Anyway, thanks for reading! :)x
> 
> P.S.: I changed the name from 'Summer Paradise' to 'The Story Of Our Lives', just letting you know :)

Everybody loves summer, it seems like everyone is happier during the summer. Life seems easier. We all know that carefree feeling we have during the summer. Maybe is because that feeling you have when the sun is bathing your skin, or maybe is the sand and salt smell when your walking down the beach, or maybe is the taste of that iced-tea your drinking besides your swimming pool. The bad thing about summer is when it ends. Goodbye to the sunbathing, walking on the beach, and the evenings in your swimming pool. And say hello to the start of the classes, the homework and the exams. And all this rush increases even more when your on your last year of high school and you’re going to graduate and then go to an university. Too much pressure.

“Everything is going to be okay Niall” she says trying to calm the blonde boy down.

“W-what if nobody likes me?” He asks.

“Everybody is going to like you, trust me”

“How do you know that?”

“Because you’re likable” she stats. They both laugh.

She’s Eleanor, she’s beautiful but she doesn’t really know, she got brown hair and brown eyes, she’s tall and she has a perfect body, she could be a model if she wanted. Niall is her cousin, he’s Irish and had spent the whole summer with her and her parents and now he’s going to go to the same high school as Eleanor. He got blonde died hair and beautiful blue eyes. The last day of summer has arrived and they both start the classes tomorrow.

“I don’t know anyone” Niall says once they have stopped laughing

“Well, you know me, and I could introduce you to some people”

“I love you, you know that, right?” Niall says to her sincerely and she simply laugh.

“Yes, I know, and I love you too” she smiled “we should go to bed now, the classes start at 8.00 and if my mom see us awake she kill us”

***

“Eleanor please, let me go home, I don’t want to be here” Niall asks

“Niall! Don’t be silly, I’m going to be with you”

They both entered the building. The corridor was full of kids with uniforms rencountering their friends. Niall felt lost, scared.

“Hey!” Eleanor shout at a curly haired girl. She’s beautiful as well. Eleanor and the girl hugged each other and Niall just stood there looking at the girls. “I missed you so much Dani!”

“I missed you too” they both separated from their hug and looked to Niall.

“Look, he’s my cousin, Niall. Niall, she’s Danielle, my best friend”

“H-hi” Niall says shyly

“Oh my god, you’re so cute! Your Irish right? Eleanor always talk about you!” Niall simply smile shyly.

They talked for a few minutes and Niall seemed more relaxed, but hen the bell rang and that meant http they had to go to their classes, fortunately he was in the same class as Eleanor.  
They entered the class and both sat at the end, the teacher arrived and after introducing himself and talk about the itinerary of the subject he, Mr. Cardle, started the lesson.  
The next two hours were basically the same, sometimes Eleanor would fall asleep in class and he would wake her up and laugh about it.  
It was lunch time and Eleanor and Niall sat down with Danielle, who was waiting for them sitting on a table at the corner of the cafeteria.

“Hey how was is going your first day” Danielle asked Niall while he and Eleanor sat down.

“Not bad, I think” Niall shrugged

“Have you introduce him to someone?” This time the question was to Eleanor, who stopped eating and looked at Danielle.

“Yeah, I’ve introduce him to the half of my list of friend, you know, I have a very busy social life and I can’t introduce all my friends at once” Eleanor said sarcastically and with her mouth full of food. Danielle rolled her eyes.

“Look” Danielle said pointing his finger out, and Niall looked that direction “can you see that group of girls sitting there?” Niall nodded “the purple haired one is Perrie, Perrie Edwards, she used to be blonde, the girl by her side is Leigh-Anne, the blue haired one is Jade, she’s the nicest in that group, and the other one is Jesy, they’re all like best friends”

“You should introduce him some boys, he’s not very interested on girls” Eleanor laughed

“Shut up!” Niall said and hit softly her arm

“Oh, so are you…?” Danielle asked and Niall knew what she meant so he simply nodded “well, then, there’s Zayn” Niall look where Danielle was pointing “the one with the quiff, the black-haired one, and the one that is on his side is Liam, he’s-“

“She has a crush on for like three years now” Eleanor said with her mouth full of food.

“Shut up, that’s not true!”

“Yes, yes it is” Niall laughed a bit

“Well, then there’s Louis, the one who is besides Liam-“

“He’s such an idiot” Eleanor interrupted her again

“You only say that because he didn’t want to go to that dance four years ago with you” Danielle told her

“Well, that’s one of the reasons” Eleanor admitted as she took another bite of her lunch.

“And the curly-haired one is Harry, he plays on the football team, well, he’s tha captain, but he don’t go with the people on the team, he’s always with the other three. They’ve been best friends since always, just like Eleanor and me” she smiled. “There are more people I know, like that girl, his name is Cher and she is Harry’s girlfriend”

“I think it was enough for today” Eleanor said “any one that caught you eye, Horan?”

“Not really” Niall said.

“I have a serious suspect that Louis is gay” Eleanor said

“Oh god Eleanor, you know he isn’t! Just because he didn’t want to go on a date with you doesn’t mean he’s gay”

“It wasn’t a date, it was a dance. And yes, yes it means that, have you see me? You have to be crazy or gay to don’t want to date me!” Eleanor joked and the other two laughed.

***

It has passed a month and Niall started feeling more comfortable. He was always with Eleanor or Danielle but he talked to more people.

“Are you coming with us?” Eleanor asked.

Niall was sitting on the couch. He looked to Eleanor and Danielle.

“Where are you going?”

“To a football match, on high school, are you coming or not?”

“Yes, just give me a second”

***

“There’s lot of people in here” Niall said. They were sitting in he yards, the match had already started and there were a lot of people.

“It is because today is the semi-final, I think” Danielle answered

Niall looked at the field and he recognise the curly haired mop, it was Harry, the captain of the team. He was hot. Shut up, he told himself, because he shouldn’t be thinking that.

The match finished and the high school team won.

“Niall we’re going to a party now, you’re coming right?” Eleanor asked him.

“C’mon! It’s friday, and the party is at Harry’s, his house it’s near ours”

"Wait, at Harry’s house?” Niall’s heart skipped a bit and he didn’t know why.

“Did he invite us?” Niall asked

“He invited the whole high school”

***

Niall found himself at Harry’s house, at a party. Danielle and Eleanor had finally convinced him.  
The music was too loud he he wasn’t really enjoying it. He wasn’t used to this. No one had ever invite him to a party, so he didn’t know hot to act.  
He was so distracted into his thoughts that he hadn’t realized that Eleanor wasn’t with him anymore. Great, now I’m alone in a party I didn’t want to come and where I don’t know anyone, he thought.  
He started searching for his cousin, but it was all in vain.  
He found himself on a corridor and he didn’t know well where he was. Fuck, now I’m lost.

“See who is here” a voice behind him said, he turned around. There were four boys Niall didn’t know, well he had seen them on high school and he wasn’t sure but he thought they were on the football team. “is the Irish leprechaun” the boys laughed at him. He was used to it but it still hurt him.

“D-do I know you?” Niall voice trembled.

“You should” the boy said and they took some steps closer to Niall. Niall stepped back but there was a wall.

“What do you want?” Niall asked.

“I don’t like you. I don’t like irish people and I don’t like faggots like you” The boy was closer to him. Niall just closed his eyes, he knew what was coming.

The boy punched him in the stomach, then on the face and then on the stomach again. Niall cried silently. He wished that Eleanor or someone came and stopped the boys.

“Hey, what are you doing?” and Niall’s wish came true.

Niall felt how the boys had stopped hitting him. He was laying on the floor, arms around his waist and eyes closed, crying still.

“Hey Hazza, want to join?”

“What the fuck?” you could hear the voice now closer “get out of my house before I punch you in your fucking face”

Niall felt the boys leave mumbling a lot of things and cursing.

“Dickheads” the voice whispered. He got down to the floor and put one of his hands on Niall’s shoulder “are you okay?”

Niall opened his eyes that were red and puffy for crying, and he saw Harry. He didn’t say anything.

“C’mon, I’ll take you to my bedroom” Harry took Niall by the waist and passed one of Niall’s arms around his shoulders.


	2. II.

ce they were on his room Harry sat down Niall on his bed

“Where did they hurt you?” he asked while he was taking some cotton and alcohol.

“Here, I think” Niall answered shyly pointing his stomach.

“Get your shirt off”

“W-what?” Niall asked confused

“I need to see the wound so I can heal it” he explained

“Oh, y-yeah” Niall lift up his t-shirt, not completely, only until you could see the wound.

Harry smiled at the shy boy and sat down next to him.

“Okay, this is gonna hurt little” he adviced and put the piece of cotton with alcohol against Niall’s wound.

“Ahh, ouch”

Harry repeated the same action several times.

“My name is Harry by the way” he suddenly said

“I know” Niall said “And my name is Niall”

“I know” Harry said looking up to Niall and smiling.

Harry knew his name? How? And why he liked that Harry knew his name?

“Well, this is done” Harry said standing up “I’m sorry for what happened”

“Can I ask you a question?” Niall said.

“Well, you already did” Harry laughed

“Niall are you-” Eleanor entered the room. “Niall! I finally found you, for god sake, what happened to you?” Eleanor saw Niall’s bruises and then looked to Harry “Did he did this to you?”

“No, I would never do that, Eleanor” Harry sounded offended but Eleanor didn’t know if she should trust him.

“No, he didn’t, he helped me, El” Niall said “If Harry wouldn’t have come those boys could’ve hurt me more”

“Thanks then” Eleanor looked at Harry and he just nodded “We have to go now Niall, it’s getting late”

***

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” She asked the irish boy.

The lights were off. They both were laying in their beds and everything was silence. Niall thought Eleanor was already asleep but he was wrong

“I already told you, I was looking for you and then got lost, then I found these boys, well they found me, and they started to punch me and then…” Niall paused for a second “well, then Harry came”

“But why? I mean, what did they punch you? They barely knew you”

“I don’t know El, I’m used to that kind of things, and right now I just want to sleep”

"Okay, night Ni"

***

The weekend passed soon and the classes started again. Niall and Eleanor got ready and went to school. Niall still had some bruises and his stomach is still hurting a bit.  
They walked to the lockers and Niall opened his.

“I have to go to the bathroom, I’ll be right back” Eleanor told him and he just nodded as he took some of his books.

“Hey” he heard a husky voice behind him and he turned around to meet those icy green eyes “Are you better?”

“Yes, well it still hurts a bit…”

“I’m sorry”

“It’s not your fault, Harry” the brunette boy chuckled.

“What is so funny?” Niall asked and smiled nervously

“You’re accent” Harry kept the smile on his face

“My accent? Are you making fun of my accent?” Harry shook his head

“No, I like it, I think is cute” Harry bit his lip and Niall’s heart stopped for a moment.

“Hazza bear!” a girl shouted and both boy looked at her direction, it was Cher, Harry’s girlfriend.

“I have to go now, I’ll see you later” and with that Harry started walking to Cher and Niall could see how he kissed her. And ouch, he felt a bit of pain on his chest.

“What was that?” Eleanor, that was now by his side, asked

“What was what?” Niall turned around to his locker and closed it

“Harry and you, talking”

“Nothing, he just wanted to know if I was better” They both started walking down the hall.

“Is my favorite cousin falling for the curly?” she asked as she passed one of her arms around Niall’s shoulders.

“Yeah, sure” Niall answered sarcastically. Or maybe yes, but he didn’t know it yet.

***

Fuck, fuck, I’m going to be late, she thought as she took some books from her locker. The lunch time was over but she had forgot to take the books for the next class, so she told Danielle and Niall to go to the class and she would rush to take the books and try not to be late, but she failed because her locker was in the opposite side of the school. So she started running with the books on her chest, and it’s not very surprisingly to say she didn’t saw the boy walking down the hall and she crushed onto him, all the books falling to the floor and she fell too.

“Are you you an idiot or what?” she shouted at him even though she knew it was her fault. She started picking up the books and the boy kneel down to help her.

“Sorry but it was your fault” she recognized his voice and looked up to see his green eyes. He was no other than the annoying Louis Tomlinson. She had have a crush on him when she was younger but now, to her, the boy was annoying and irritating.  
The both got up to his feet when they finish picking up all the books from the floor. Louis gave her the last one.

“Thanks” she said.

“My pleasure” he smiled at her and she laughed

“It’s not going to work with me” she said and the boy looked confused.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m not one of those girls you smile to and fall at your feet Tomlinson”

“Well, good to know” and he smiled cheekily again. She rolled her eyes and walked past him. “Hey, want skip the class with me?”

Eleanor stopped and turned around to look at him. She pretended as if she was really thinking about doing it.

“You wish, Tomlinson, you wish” and she walked to her class. Leaving Louis there, standing alone, looking at her disappearing down the hall, with a smile on his face.


	3. III.

"I’m going to the tryouts for the cheerleader’s team" Danielle said to Niall and Eleanor. The three of them were eating at the cafeteria.

"What?!" Eleanor shouted. "Are you serious Dani?"

"Yeah" she answered and took a bite of her sandwich. Niall was just there eating and looking at the girls talking no saying a word.

"But it is degrading and sexist" Eleanor stated angrily and Danielle rolled her eyes.

"I know, but if I’m part of it I’ll have more chances to enter in that University I want"

"Okay, but I still find it degrading for women"

"Okay, but you will come to see me, won’t you?" Dani begged

"Yeah, okay, I’ll go" Eleanor answered and Danielle smiled widely.

"You’re coming too, right?" Danielle asked this time to Niall. Niall looked at her.

"Yeah, of course" he answered and she smiled again.

***

The tryouts where on the football field. Niall and Eleanor sat on the bleachers and then Niall saw him. He saw Harry. The football team was training there too. Eleanor and Niall watched Danielle and a lot more of girls doing the routine, finally, after and hour the tryouts were over.

"I’ll go talk to Danielle, pick up all our things and I’ll be right back" Eleanor said to Niall and he simply nodded and started doing what she asked.

"Niall!" He heard a voice called him. A voice he knew. He turned around to find Harry a few steps away looking at him, smiling. Niall picked up his and Eleanor’s things and walked to him.

"Hey Harry" he said awkwardly.

"What are you doing here? Did you come to watch me training?" Harry asked with a cheeky smile, teasing Niall. Wait, was Harry teasing him? Niall smiled softly.

"No, I-I actually, I c-came to watch my friend, she w-wants to joint the cheerleaders team" Niall stuttered. Harry nodded and stared at him. And Niall stared at Harry too, he couldn’t help but think of how attractive the boy was on his football equipment, the sweat running trough his face and his curls plastered to his forehead. What? Why are you even thinking that? Shut up.

"Niall, Niall! Are you listening to me?" Harry interrupted him form his thoughts.

"Y-yeah, sorry" Niall blushed and Harry laughed softly.

"See, I was wondering… I’m having a party tomorrow and I thought maybe you would like to come" Harry said, and he looked nervous, but maybe Niall was just seeing things.

"I don’t know…" Niall said looking at the ground, but Harry lift Niall’s chin softly making him look at his eyes.

"I know the last party didn’t end too well, but I promise to you that I won’t let nobody hurt you again" Harry said staring at Niall’s eyes. And Niall’s heart skipped a bit, he looked so sincere. 

"O-okay, I’ll go" Niall finally said and Harry smiled widely.

"Great!" Harry said almost jumping in excitement and Niall laughed "Oh, Eleanor and Danielle can come too" he said and Niall nodded. Both with smiles in their faces.

***

"Daniiiii!" Eleanor shouted as she ran towards her best friends, once she reached her she hugged her. "You did great, seriously!"

"Thank you El!" 

"Are you in, then?" Eleanor asked.

"I don’t know it yet, the lists will be out tomorrow" Eleanor nodded.

"Guess who’s coming right here" Eleanor suddenly said almost whispering.

"Who?" Danielle asked curiously.

"Mr. Perfection with Mr. Annoying" Eleanor said.

"Liam and Louis?" Danielle asked surprised and Eleanor nodded.

"Hey ladies" Louis said smiling, Eleanor rolled her eyes.

"Hi" Liam said sounding a bit nervous "I saw you doing the routine, you were great" Liam said to Danielle.

"Really? Thank you" Danielle said blushing.

"Dani, I’m leaving, see you later okay?" Eleanor said and left leaving them so they could talk alone.

"Hey Eleanor" a voice called her but she knew who it was so she didn’t stop and continued walking "Hey, I was talking you" Louis finally said when he reach her.

"I knew, but I didn’t want to stop"

"W-why are you like that?" Louis asked.

"Me? Like what?" 

"Like, I don’t know, you’re just so mean with me" Louis said trying to sound hurt.

"Don’t even try to pretend you’re hurt because I don’t believe it"

"See!" He said exasperated "I’m just trying to be nice"

"Don’t do it then"El said and Louis took a deep breadth.

"Look, there’s a party tomorrow, at Harry’s, I hope to see you there okay?" Louis said. They both stopped walking and she looked at him, and for moment it seemed like Eleanor would say ‘yes’ that she was going to the party but then she just left him there without saying a word.

"Niall we need to go, now" she said once she reach where Niall was talking with Harry.

"We don’t wait for Dani?" he asked.

"No, we don’t, let’s go" she was kind of angry and she didn’t even know why.

"Okay, bye Harry" 

"See you tomorrow" the curly-haired said.

***

"Where are you going?" Eleanor asked to Niall who was standing in front of the bathroom mirror.

"To Harry’s party, I thought you were coming too" Niall looked at Eleanor who was wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants. "Dani is coming"

"Have fun then" she said and locked herself on her bedroom. Niall stopped at the door and knocked.

"El, what’s wrong? he asked concerned. "I’ll stay if you want"

"No, go, I’m fine, just tired, go" she lied.

***

Niall arrived at the party with Danielle. Someone who he didn’t know opened them the door and they both came in. There were a lot of people but not as much as the other time, and the music was loud.

"Hey, Dani wanna dance?" Liam appeared out of nowhere. Danielle looked at Niall as if asking for permission and he just smiled and nodded.

"Hey" he felt an arm being passed around his shoulders, it was Louis "where is your cousin?" he asked.

"At home"

"Why she didn’t came?"

"I don’t know" Niall shrugged

"Do you know why she acts like that with me?" Louis asked and Niall thought he really cared.

"Maybe I know, but I won’t tell you Louis, you should talk to her if you really care, you know"

"She’s driving me crazy" Louis said and Niall looked at him surprised.

"Really?"

"Yeah, she’s just-"

"Tomlinson, get off him" a husky voice said interrupting Louis. And Niall saw him, it was Harry, making his way trough the crowd towards him and Louis.

"Calm down Harold" their tone was serious but Niall could tell they were joking. "See you soon Niall" Louis said as Niall nodded and the brunette disappeared through the crowd.

"I”m glad you came" Harry said leaning on Niall’s ear so he could hear him better. Niall felt a shiver down his spine. Harry took his hand and led him to where everyone was dancing and drinking, and Harry held his hand all night long, and Niall wasn’t complaining about that. He couldn’t help but feel this funny feeling on his stomach that he didn’t know what it was, but he would find out soon.


	4. IV.

Niall hadn’t talk with Harry since the party and Eleanor had been acting weird since then too. When Niall arrived home from the party Eleanor was still awake, she had puffy read eyes like she had been crying. Niall had asked what happened to her but she just answered him with a simply “I’m fine”, but Niall knew she was lying.

"Are you going to tell me what is wrong with you?" Niall asked closing his locker too angrily.

"I’m fine, okay? Leave me alone" Eleanor said rudely.

"Is this because I went to the party? I would have stayed if you had told me to"

"What is happening here?" Danielle suddenly appeared.

"Nothing, nothing it’s happening okay?" Eleanor said exasperated.

"No, its obvious something is happening but you don’t tell me what it is" Niall said looking at Eleanor and she could see how concerned the boy was but she couldn’t do anything about it, well, she wouldn’t do anything about it.

The bell rang and Eleanor ran away not wanting to talk with Niall or Danielle about how she was feeling and why she was feeling like that, it was confusing even to her. She started running not knowing where she was going. She felt a heavy weight on her chest, it was all his fault. She ran outside the school building and kept running, until she crashed onto someone.

"Hey!" a boy shouted. She looked at him and started running again because he was the last person she would want to see now, Louis, the one who was doing this to her, but what was he exactly doing to her? Maybe it was all her fault, she thought she got over this, but she clearly hasn’t "You guys go, I need to do something" she heard the same voice and then she felt a hand grab her arm firmly. "Hey, what’s wrong?" the boy said and she hesitantly looked at his blue eyes "why are you crying?" he said as Louis reached to wipe her tears with his thumb. Was she crying? She hadn’t even realized all the tears that were rolling down her cheeks. What was happening to her?

"I’m fine, let me go" she tried to go away from Louis but he held her arm firmly.

"No" he said "I know I’m probably the last person you want to talk to because I know you hate me, but I wanna know what happened to you"

Eleanor stared at him. I know you hate me. Did she hate him? Yes. Maybe. No. No, she didn’t hate him, it just hurt.

"I-I don’t hate you" she said and Louis expression softened and he release Eleanor’s arm. She started walking away but Louis grabbed her wrist.

"Wait, Eleanor, we need to talk" she simply nodded and let herself be led around school to the football field.

Maybe it was good if she let it all out, tell Louis everything, she’s been hiding so many feelings for so long now. They both sat down on the bleachers, and Eleanor stared at some kids who were playing football but she really wasn’t paying attention to them.

"Are more relaxed now?" Louis asked and she just nodded "Are you going to tell me why you act like you hate me and then tell me that you don’t hate me?" Louis asked smiling a bit at the thought that she actually didn’t hate him. She turned her face to Louis and stared at him, then she laughed and looked down.

"You don’t remember, do you?" she asked lifting her head to look at him again.

"What?" he was confused.

"I’ve known you since we were kids" Louis nodded "We were good friends actually, you, Harry and me" they both smiled at the memory "but then we grew up, we changed. You made new friends, at first I didn’t mind and I thought we were going to still being friends even though if we didn’t hang out like we used to, but then when my mother died, five years ago, I needed you, but you weren’t there, you didn’t even come to see how I was or even asked about me. You have no idea of how I felt, I have never been so lonely in my life-"

"Eleanor I-" Louis interrupted her, tears attempting to fall from his eyes.

"No, I’m not finished yet" she said and continued "I eventually got over it, that you and I weren’t going to be best friends anymore, and thankfully Danielle appeared, and then you started making fun of me. It was bad when you ignored me but that was even worse Louis" she couldn’t believe all those words were coming out of her mouth, she’s been keening her feelings to herself for so long "I know I was a fat kid, but I didn’t need you and the whole school remembering it to me every single day, and I don’t even know what I asked you to go to that stupid dance with me, maybe I had a little hope that we were still being friends, but I was an idiot, but I am not anymore, there’s nothing left of that girl now, so I won’t let you, or anyone, hurt me again." she finished and wiped off the tears that were on her face. She looked at him and she was a bit surprised when she saw Louis had tears on his cheeks too. "You’re not going to say anything?" There was a silence, at least she expected him to be sorry or something, but he didn’t say anything, so he couldn’t hep but feel a bit disappointed "fine, I guess everything is back to normal, please ignore me so I can do the same to you" she said as she got up and walked away.

Louis stared at his hands, tears still rolling down his cheeks. He buried his face on his hands. He was paralyzed, what could he do? Run to her, hold her in his arms and tell her how he felt about her? Yeah, he probably could do that, but he wasn’t going to do it because, let’s be honest, he had hurt her, really bad, and he didn’t know how to fix this mess. For the last years he’s been ignoring all of this, pretending that nothing had ever happen, that everything was fine, that he hadn’t hurt the girl he loved. He loved her? Yeah, he did, but that wasn’t important now, she would never love him back and he didn’t blame her, because it was all his fault.

He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, mate, what are you doing here?" it was Harry, the boy sat down next to him and Louis looked at him, Harry saw he was crying "What’s wrong?" He asked concerned.

"Everything" was what Louis answered "everything is wrong Harry"

The boys stayed in silence for a while until Louis finally spoke up.

"Do you remember when we use to hang out with Eleanor, when we were kids?" Louis asked, Harry smiled at the memory and nodded "I wish I could turn back to then, and tell her I was going to be always with her, and comfort her when her mother died, and don’t laugh at her but tell her to never change because she was beautiful and I liked her that way, and tell her that I still like her, and that I’m sorry" Louis buried his face on his hands again.

"I’m sure everything will turn out fine Lou" Harry, who knew how Louis felt about Eleanor, said trying to cheer him up "We’ll plan something"

"Do you have a time machine?" Louis asked.

"No" Harry said.

"Then, we can do nothing"


	5. V.

"I need your help" Niall looked up at the boy who was now standing next to him in the lockers, it was no other than Harry. Niall looked confused.

"For what?" Niall asked and Harry smiled.

"Do you know if Eleanor likes Louis if something?"

"All I know is that she acts like she hates him but I know she doesn’t"

"We need a plan"

"A plan? I-I don’t get it, what had happen?" Niall asked confused.

"I’ll tell you"

***

"So, are you saying that after all the things he has done to her Louis likes Eleanor?"

"Yes" Harry had told Niall the whole story, there were parts Niall obviously knew because Eleanor is his cousin but there are other parts he didn’t know. They both were sitting outside the school on the grass. "Do you think she likes him back?"

"She would be stupid if she did"

"Why? Louis is not that bad" Harry said a bit angry, after all Louis was his friends.

"I know, but he hurt her"

"But he has changed, you don’t believe he could love her?" Harry said and Niall laughed slightly.

"I don’t believe in love" Niall said and stared at Harry’s eyes and Harry stared back at him.

"I’ll make you believe, then" Harry said and Niall’s heart stopped for a moment and he even forgot how to breathe for a moment, was Harry really saying that? "I-I mean with all this Louis and Eleanor thing" Harry added quickly and nervously looking away from Niall "I’m going to show you that Louis can love her" And Niall breathed again, obviously Harry wasn’t meaning what you thought Niall, you’re and idiot, he has a girlfriend.

***

"What’s wrong mate?" Louis asked Harry who was hitting his head against the lockers.

"Me, that is what is wrong, I am wrong" said as he stopped and looked at his best friend.

"Why?" Louis asked.

"It’s… Difficult" Harry said.

"Harry I’m your best friend, you can tell me anything"

"I know Lou but-"

"Harry!" and voice with certain irish accent called and Harry saw Niall running towards him with a paper on his hand.

"Hey Niall" Harry said once Niall was by his side.

"I need to talk to you" the irish lad said excited.

"I’ll go to find Zayn, see you later, bye Niall" Louis said and left.

"So, what’s that you need to tell me?" Harry said.

"Look at this" Niall said showing him the big paper he was holding in his hand.

There were wrote this with big bright yellow letters:

XIV Cowell Highschool Talent Show

Harry looked at Niall confused.

"A talent show…" Harry said, he didn’t know what Niall wanted to tell him.

"Yes!" the lad said over too excited.

"I don’t get it" Harry finally said and Niall rolled his eyes. And he couldn’t help it but think of how cute the boy was when he rolled his eyes. Wait, what? Cute? Harry you have a girlfriend, GIRL-friend.

"You said we needed a plan, there it is"

"A talent show? That’s our plan?" Harry asked getting more confused each time.

"Yes!" 

"And again, I don’t get it" Harry said.

"We’re forming a band" Niall finally said, Harry looked at him and started laughing. "I’m sirius" Harry stopped laughing then.

"What?!"

"Yeah, I already signed us up" Niall said

"Us? Who is us?"

"You, Louis, Liam, Eleanor, Danielle and me" Niall smiled "oh, and that friend of yours, Zayn, too if you want"

"Niall, are you crazy? I can’t sing, my friends can’t sing!"

"Have you ever sang?" Harry shook his head "then how you know you can’t sing?" Harry stayed quiet, trying to process all the information "You wanted a plan, so there’s your plan"

"But it doesn’t makes sense! And how is that supposed to help us to get Louis and Eleanor together?"

"They will spend time together, and plus we can win 1,000 pounds"

"Seriously?!" Niall nodded "I don’t know Niall, this can sound a bit like High School Musical but, I play football, I don’t sing, and this isn’t a movie where everybody can surprisingly sing and everything goes the way they wanted"

"Just think about it okay? Talk to Louis, to your friends, and tell me something tomorrow, okay?" Niall said giving him a sweet smile Harry couldn’t resist and he didn’t know why.

"Okay" Harry smiled back.

***

"Are you crazy? We can’t sing!" Louis said at his best friend.

"Why you want us to participate on that talent show?" Zayn asked confused.

"I don’t know, it can be fun" Harry said, he wasn’t very convinced about this Niall plan but for some reason he really didn’t know, he was trying to convince his friends to do it.

"We always laugh at the people who go to that talent show every year, Harry, and now you want us there?" Liam asked.

"I know it’s weird, but… We can win 1,000 pounds guys and…" Harry insisted.

"And?" Louis asked.

"And Danielle and Eleanor will be in the group too" he said looking at Liam and Louis, and Louis’ face lit up.

"Okay… Maybe it will be fun" Louis started saying "I’m in" Harry smiled satisfied

"Fine, I’m in too" Liam said rolling his eyes and Harry smiled wider than before, then the three boys looked at Zayn.

"What?" the boy asked.

"Please, Zayn" Harry pleaded.

"No, no, I can’t sing, I don’t wanna sing" the boy stated.

"And what if we try to convince Perrie to participate with us?" Liam said smiling, Zayn glared at him.

"She will participate with her friends and plus, I don’t care if she’s there" Zayn lied, because it was pretty obvious that the boy had a crush on her.

"We’ll try anyway, she has a pretty voice" Harry said "Please Zayn" he looked at him giving him a puppy face and Zayn rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I’ll do it" 

***

Next day at school the first thing Harry did was go to find Niall. He was at his locker as always.

"Niall" he called him and Niall turned to face him.

"Hey" the blonde lad said smiling shyly.

"We’ll do it" Harry stated.

"What?"

"The talent show" Harry explained.

"Really?" Niall asked excited.

"Yeah" Harry laughed slightly at the boy’s excitement.

"Harry, I finally found you!" a girl’s voice said and the two boys turned to see who it was. It was Cher, Harry’s girlfriend. 

"Hey babe" Harry said pecking her lips but she kissed him more passionately while Niall stood there staring awkwardly. The boy cleared his throat and Harry stopped kissing Cher and looked at him.

"I-I need to go now, we’ll talk later" he said and Harry nodded. Then Niall left leaving them alone as they continued kissing. And Niall didn’t know why but it hurt a bit. Maybe he was getting sick. Yeah, lovesick. No, I don’t like Harry, and if I did he wouldn’t even looked at me, he has a girlfriend, he’s not even gay. He thought to himself. What Niall didn’t see was that Harry actually looked at him, when he left, while Cher was kissing him, Harry couldn’t stop staring at Niall’s figure disappearing through the crowd, with a hint of hurt on his face. And for a moment he imagined it was Niall who was kissing him and not Cher, his soft and pink lips that would fell so good against his, but he brushed it off quickly, because he couldn’t think like that, because he wasn’t gay, because thinking about Niall that way wasn’t right, not while he had his girlfriend wrapped around his neck kissing him. It couldn’t be right feeling that way about the irish boy. But it felt so right.


	6. VI.

"I don’t even know why I’m doing this" Eleanor protested for the billionth time.

"Because you love me" Niall answered smiling widely and she rolled her eyes.

The three of them, Niall, Eleanor and Danielle, were walking down the street, they were going to Harry’s house. Niall had finally convinced Dani and Eleanor to join the band for the talent show, well, it wasn’t that hard convincing Danielle, actually.

"It’s going to be fun El!" Danielle added trying to cheer her up.

"Yeah, I’m sure is going to be loads of fun to hang around people I don’t like" Eleanor replied sarcastically.

After ten minutes of walking and Eleanor protesting, they arrived at Harry’s house. Niall knocked the door twice and it opened almost immediately to reveal Harry.

"Hey thought you wouldn’t come" he said looking down his watch. Of course they were late, Eleanor has been trying until the last minute not to come with all kind of excuses.

"Yeah, me too" Eleanor said emotionless and entered the house.

"Sorry, she’s in a bad mood" Niall apologized smiling softly and Harry smiled back.

"Come in please" so they did. Harry led them to the basement where there already were three boys sitting on a couch, Liam, Zayn and Louis. "Hey boys, look who finally arrived"

The boys looked at them and for a moment Eleanor’s eyes met Louis’ and his face lit up but then she looked away and sat down on the carpet, close to a small table that was in the center of the room. Harry, Dani and Niall did the same.

"So" Zayn started "would someone explain me where this idea came from?" he asked and they all looked at Niall. The blond boy blushed and looked down at his hand while he was trying to find some words to say.

"Umm… Well, I-I actually" he muttered nervously.

"Niall thought it would be cool if we formed a band for the talent show and we can gain some money" Harry came to his rescue and Niall mumbled a quiet Thank you and Harry simply smiled at him.

"And why us? I mean, you don’t have friends?" Zayn asked and Niall looked up at him, tears attempting to fall from his eyes, because Zayn was right, he had no friends, and then it hit him. Maybe he wasn’t doing all this band thing for Eleanor and Louis, maybe he was doing it for himself, to feel what is like to have real friends, to feel you can trust someone, to feel loved, just for once.

"Zayn you’re being rude, there was no need on saying that" Harry said getting angry.

"But isn’t that true? The only friends he has are his cousin and his cousin’s best friend" Zayn said. Eleanor stood up, fists closed, she was so angry.

"You know what? If you don’t want to be here you can leave, but don’t keep saying things like that to Niall" she stated angrily. Zayn stood up too.

"So you’re kicking me out of my best friend’s house?" he laughed sarcastically.

"No, but I can kick you in the balls and I swear to god you won’t be able to reproduce" she answered.

"Eleanor calm down" Louis stood up getting in the middle of Eleanor and Zayn, reaching for Eleanor to calm her down.

"Don’t fucking touch me" she said taking a step back from Louis.

"Hey guys" Harry stood up this time, joining the others "calm down"

"I don’t know about you Harry but I can’t calm down when there is a dickhead saying things to someone I love" Eleanor stated really angry.

"What did you just called me?" Zayn asked

"Dickhead, that’s what you are, aren’t you?" she replied.

And all of a sudden everyone stoop up, shouting, saying all kinds of things but you actually couldn’t hear them properly as they were talking all at the same time. And Niall just sat there, watching the whole scene, why was these happening? It was his fault, surely it was, it was always his fault. How could he thought that they could all become friends. High school was divided in two groups, the cool people and the losers, and he was sure he was part of the second group and the other boys were part of the first one, and cool kids and losers couldn’t get alone, those were the rules, so why was he trying to change that?

"STOP!" Niall yelled standing up, and for a moment everyone stopped shouting an looked at him but then again they all started shouting. Niall closed his eyes and took a deep breath "I SAID FUCKING STOP!" he yelled even louder than before, and this time everyone actually stopped and he looked at Eleanor and Harry’s faces, filled with hurt and concern, while the others were looking at them in shock. And that was when he felt a tear rolled down, he reached his hand to his cheek and he realized he was crying.

"Niall-" Harry started.

"I’m sorry" Niall cut him off "it was a bad idea" he smiled bitterly and left the room. He went outside the house, he needed fresh air, he needed to know why was he crying. He had always been a sensitive person but there was so much things behind these tears. He wiped away his tears and took some deep breaths before he heard someone’s footsteps coming closer to him from the house.

"Are you okay?" it was Harry, Niall turned his head and looked at him, he seemed concerned, why would be Harry concerned about him, he was from the group one and Niall from the group two.

"I guess" Niall said looking away from Harry but then he felt two soft fingers on his chin, turning his head so he was now looking at Harry again. Niall watched Harry every move. Harry stared at Niall right in the eyes, and then he did something Niall wasn’t expecting, he looked down at Niall’s lips and then licked his own. Oh my god. Was he going to kiss him or what? No, it couldn’t be that… And it wasn’t, instead of kissing him what the boy did was hug him. He passed an arm around Niall’s waist and the other one behind the boy’s neck, caressing his blond hair, and he let rest his lips softly on Niall’s neck which sent shivers through Niall’s body. The irish lad wrapped his arms around the other boy, at first hesitantly but then he relaxed into Harry’s arms. He could feel Harry’s breath against his neck his hand on his waist, and he wasn’t sure if that relaxed him or got him nervous. After what it seemed forever, but were actually seconds, Harry pulled away smiling softly.

"Better now?" the boy asked and Niall simply nodded, still a bit shocked. "Let’s go inside"

"No" Niall said "I want to go home, Harry"

"Want me to take you?"

"No, I’ll go walking, could you please go find Danielle and Eleanor?"

"Sure" Harry said, placing a soft kiss on Niall’s cheek as he entered the house. And Niall stood there trying to remember how to breathe again.

***

"I’m sorry" Eleanor said. Niall and her were in their room, laying on their beds, with the lights turned off.

"Why?" Niall asked.

"Because I ruined everything, you were so excited about forming a band, and singing, again" she added the last part. Niall smiled in the dark, yeah, he used to sing all the time, singing was everything to him, but then everyone started to hate him and bully him on school, telling him how he couldn’t sing and things like that, so he stopped singing. 

"It’s not you’re fault El" Niall sighed "Zayn is right"

"What?" she said and Niall laughed slightly because even though they were in the dark and he couldn’t see her he could picture Eleanor’s expression in his head.

"Yeah, I don’t have friends, well I have you and Dani, and that’s enough, but I don’t know, it’s just…" Niall didn’t know how to continue.

"It isHarry, isn’t it?" She asked as reading Niall’s mind. Of course it was Harry.

"What?" he asked as pretending not knowing what she was talking about.

"You like him, don’t you?" And Niall could perfectly tell his cousin was grinning.

"No, I don’t! Well, I don’t know, maybe, he’s cute…" 

"Niall Horan, don’t lie to me!" she said almost laughing.

"Yeah, I like him" he finally admitted.

"Owwwww! My little cousin is falling in love!" she said dramatically.

"No! I’m not! I just said I like him" he corrected her.

"Yeah, whatever…" she said

"But he’s straight"

"How do you know that?" Eleanor asked. Well, wasn’t that obvious? He had a girlfriend.

"He has a girlfriend, El"

"But it can be a cover up, maybe he’s secretly gay, and I saw you two today hugging outside, you look cute together" Niall smiled "but be careful because people like him don’t usually hang out with people like us"

"Yeah, I know" Niall said kind of sadly and Eleanor simply yawned.

"Goodnight Niall"

"Goodnight El"

"Dream with Harry tonight" he said and he smiled "but you’re changing the sheets tomorrow" she added and laughed and Niall simply rolled his eyes, and then he fell asleep, thinking about no other than Harry Styles. What was this boy doing to him? 

***

The next mooring in school everything was normal as always. The two first hours passed surprisingly quick and Niall was walking down the corridors with Eleanor and Danielle, when he saw the figure of four boys approaching to them.

"Hey" Harry waved at Niall when they stopped.

"Hi" was all Niall said, he didn’t know if he had to be scared or what. At least Eleanor was by his side, and he didn’t think Harry would hurt him or anything, would he?

"Niall" this time it was Zayn who talked, and Niall looked at him "I’m really sorry, for what happened yesterday"

"It’s okay" Niall shrugged.

"Really? You’re not mad at me or anything?" Zayn asked and Niall shook his head.

"No, why should I? You only tell the truth, I have no friends"

"No Niall, that’s not true" Harry spoke up.

"Yeah, Harry is right, we’re you’re friends now" Zayn said and Niall looked confused 

"We’re friends and band mates" Louis added.

"What?" Niall was even more confused, he looked at Eleanor who looked as confused as himself.

"We’re going to go to that talent show and we are going to kill it" Liam said smiling and Niall smiled too.

"Are you serious?" Niall said getting excited. Maybe it was all a joke.

"Of course we are serious! More serious that we’ve ever been in our life" Harry said cheerfully, and without even think twice Niall hugged him, at first Harry was a bit socked but then he hugged him back, earning a loud "aaaww" from the boys before they joined the hug pushing Eleanor and Danielle into the hug too. 

Okay, so maybe Niall was wrong, maybe he did have friends after all.


	7. VII.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to thank JAY_hates_SOUP for betaing this, she's my new beta, so thank you!! :)x

The talent show was on two weeks so they needed to be ready. After a week they had the band formed. It had been a bit difficult at the beginning but they finally agreed that Niall would be the lead singer and play guitar, Louis would play the piano because fortunately he already knew how to play it, Zayn and Harry would be the backing vocals, and Liam would play drums, Danielle would be the female lead singer because surprisingly she had a great voice, and Eleanor would be their manager, as she liked to call it, which actually meant she would sit and watch them perform while she does nothing.  
So they had only a week left.  
"Why don't we take a break?" Niall suggested. They were in Harry's house rehearsing and practicing. They all agreed and went get some food in the kitchen, leaving Eleanor alone in Harry's sofa playing with her mobile phone.  
"You're not coming?" Louis asked.  
"No, I'll stay here" She answered.  
"Want me to bring you something?" He offered.  
"Don't worry, I'm fine"  
After a few minutes Louis went back from the kitchen and sat beside her.  
"I hope you still liked them" He said offering Eleanor some sweet popcorn "I remember they were your favorites" Eleanor smiled, because he remembered that after so long. She picked some and ate them.  
"Thanks" She said.  
After a moment of silence, Louis spoke up.  
"I've never thought you were fat" Eleanor looked at him not expecting it "I know I used to call you that but I didn't mean it, I don't know why I said it, I guess it was the social pressure"  
"Well, then social pressure ruined my life" Eleanor said.  
"I'm sorry, I really am Eleanor, I know you can't forgive me and I understand why. But I just want you to know that I'm sorry and that I've always thought you were perfect, and I still do" Louis said.  
"I am sorry too" Eleanor sad smiling bitterly and then she walked away.  
Louis sighed and closed his eyes.  
"Why didn't you tell her?" He heard Harry say.  
He looked up and there were all of his friends, Harry, Niall, Liam, Danielle and Zayn, looking at him.  
"Tell her what?" Louis asked.  
Harry rolled his eyes.  
"That you love her" He said as it was the most obvious thing, because it was.  
"I can't"  
"But you love her, don't you?" Niall asked this time.  
"Yeah, but she hates me, and that's okay because I hurt her"  
"But she doesn't hates you" Danielle said "For god's sakes Louis, she loves you, she had loved you all this time"  
"How do you know?" He asked.  
"Because I'm her best friend" She answered.  
"And because it's obvious" Zayn added.  
Louis thought about it a couple of minutes. Could it be true? After all he had done to her, could she love him back?  
"Are you going to go and tell her how you feel or are you going to stay here sitting and looking like and idiot?" Harry said and Louis stood up and went to find Eleanor.

 

It wasn't hard to find her. She was sitting in the doorstep so Louis sat beside her.  
"What are you doing here?" Louis asked.  
"I wanted to be alone" She answered.  
Louis took a deep breath.  
"I need to tell you something" He said.  
"You already told me you were sorry, about a hundred times"  
"It's not that" Louis said  
"What it is then?"  
Louis didn't say anything, instead he took his wallet from his pocket as Eleanor watched him.  
"Do you remember this?" Louis said handing her a piece of paper.  
But it wasn't a piece of paper, it was a picture of them both when they were kids, and behind there was written something.  
"It's from the day we got married, remember? Harry was the priest and our mothers took photos of us" He said smiling "You wrote this in the behind" He turned around the picture to read 'Louis and Eleanor, together forever and ever'.  
"You kept it all this time?" Eleanor asked smiling.  
"Yeah, sometimes I look at it and it's funny, because" He took a deep breath "my feelings for you haven't changed"  
"And what do you feel for me, then?"  
He didn't say anything but he moved closer to her and placed his hand on her cheek. Eleanor closed her eyes and Louis took it at as signal of approval, so he leaned in until his lips were impossibly closer to Eleanor's and he finally kissed her. Sweet and tenderly. "I kind of love you" He said against Eleanor's lips and kissed her again as they both smiled trough the kiss.

***

"I told you my plan would work" Niall said to Harry. They were in the kitchen.  
"And I told you I would make you believe in love" Harry answered.  
"Okay, they love each other, but not everyone is loved back"  
"Why do you say that?" Harry asked.  
"Because I've never been loved back" Niall answered.  
Harry's heart stopped. How could it be possible? How could anyone not love Niall, he was perfect.  
"Well, that's maybe because the ones you loved were idiots and didn't realize you were perfect" Harry said and Niall blushed.  
"I'm not perfect, Harry"  
"Well, to me you are perfect" Harry stated, not even realizing the words were coming out of his mouth, did he really just say that out loud?  
Niall looked at him confused and Harry simply stared back at his big blue eyes.  
"Hey, Harry, Niall, come here!" The other boys called them.  
"We should go" Harry said.  
"Yeah"

***

One evening in Harry's house after school, exactly four days before the talent show, everything started crashing down.  
"What?! Are you leaving us?" Eleanor asked.  
"El it's a great opportunity, I can't let it go?" Danielle answered.  
Danielle had received an scholarship to one of the best dance academies, in the USA, and she had to leave immediately.  
"But it's so far away from here" Eleanor insisted.  
"El, we're all sad but it's the best for her" Louis said reassuring her.  
"Liam, you don't have anything to say?" Eleanor asked.  
"What am I supposed to say? She already made the decision" He said a bit angry.  
"Liam I'm sorry…" Danielle said. "I need to go now, the flight is in two hours"  
"I can't believe you're leaving me, but I forgive you because I love you, but I hate you too" Eleanor said with tears in her eyes. Danielle chuckled.  
"Don't cry El, I'll call you everyday" Eleanor nodded and they both hugged.  
"I'll miss you guys" Danielle said. She hugged everyone and then she left.  
"I can't believe she's gone" Eleanor said again "Who am I going to talk to now?"  
"You can always talk to me" Louis suggested.  
"No offense babe, but you're my boyfriend, I can't talk with you like I talk with my best friend who is a girl"  
"I should be offended, but I'm going to forgive you because I like it when you call me boyfriend" Louis said kissing her cheek, and the rest of the boys rolled their eyes.  
"What are we going to do now?" Niall said.  
"What do you mean?" Harry asked.  
"We need a female lead singer"

***

"I heard you need a female singer for the talent show" Perrie asked Niall, Eleanor and Louis in the school cafeteria, as they were sitting together. Her hair was now blonde instead of purple.  
"Yeah, we do" Niall answered.  
"I'd like to be your female singer"  
"What about your group?" Eleanor asked.  
"They don't want to participate, but I do. I was going as a soloist but I heard you needed a female singer, so here I am" Perrie explained.  
"I don't know, Harry told me that he would talk to Cher to be in the band" Louis said.  
Niall thought about it. Having Cher and Harry together in front of him all the time. It didn't sound very good to him.  
"Okay Perrie," Niall said "you're in"

***

"Hey, I talked to Cher and after thinking it about it I made a decision" Harry announced that same day after school. "I'm leaving the band"  
"What? Three days before the talent show? Why?" Niall asked.  
The rest of the boys stayed in silence watching them.  
"Cher said that I don't spend much time with her because of the band and she's right" Harry said.  
"You can't do this to us"  
"Niall, I'm not doing anything, now that Dani is gone we don't have any possibility at the talent show" Harry insisted.  
"But Perrie joined the band" Niall tried.  
"I've already made a decision, Niall"  
Niall stared at him for a moment.  
"Please, Harry" Niall begged almost crying.  
"What do you think, Niall, that I would choose the band over my girlfriend? You're an idiot" Harry spat almost crying too.  
"Okay, leave, we don't need you, I hate you!" He said before leaving Harry's house.  
"Why did you do that?!" Eleanor shouted at Harry. "You're the only idiot in here" She went behind his cousin.  
"What's wrong with you mate?" Louis asked. "I've never seen you talk to Niall like that"  
"Leave me alone" Harry said covering his face with his hands  
"No!" Louis protested "How can you not see it?" Louis asked.  
"What?"  
"Harry, it's clear even to me." Zayn said "Niall likes you"  
"No, he doesn't"  
"And you like him back" Louis added.  
"No, I don't!" Harry protested.  
"You can deny it all you want, but I've seen you look at him, Harry"  
"I don't like him, he's a boy and I like girls" .  
"There's nothing wrong in liking boys Harry, don't be an idiot" Liam said.  
There was a moment of silence before Harry spoke again.  
"I did this for a reason" The boys didn't say anything, waiting for Harry to continue "Cher and I talked and she told me that if I don't leave the band she would break up with me"  
"So you choose her?" Louis asked.  
"No" Harry answered "I told her that I didn't care, that I wouldn't fail you guys. And then she told me the same thing you told me minutes ago: that I liked Niall, and she told me that if I don't leave the band she would tell everyone"  
"And so what?" Zayn said.  
"You don't understand. I'm the captain of the football team, they can't know that I like him, that I like boys too" Harry explained.  
"So I was right, you like him" Louis said proudly.  
"It's not that I like him, okay? It's just that I feel fine when I'm with him, it feels… Right" Harry admitted.  
"Seems to me, my dear friend, that you like him," Louis said "and a lot" He added.  
"Look, Harry," Liam said "there's nothing wrong in liking boys, or boys and girls, and if people judge you for that it's their problem, not yours."  
"It's not fair to lose the one you love because you're afraid of what the other would say" Zayn added.  
"These feelings, all of this is new to me, and I don't know what to do" Harry admitted.  
"You need to talk with Niall" Louis suggested.  
"And what do I say? That I'm and idiot and that I'm sorry?" Harry asked.  
"Well, that's what I did with El and it worked out" Louis said and Harry rolled his eyes.  
"Tell him what you feel, Harry" Zayn said.  
"As a wise man once told me: 'are you going to go and tell him how you feel or are you going to stay here sitting and looking like and idiot?'" Louis said quoting Harry.  
Harry looked up smiling slightly, eyes red from crying.


	8. VIII

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was beta'd by JAY_hates_SOUP, so thanks to her again! :)xx

"Niall, don't do that," Eleanor said once they got home, they were in their bedroom "we need you."  
"No, El, I made a decision, I'm not going to sing," Niall said "it was a bad idea, I should have known."  
"Niall, Harry is an idiot, he-"  
"It's not because of him." Niall interrupted her.  
"Don't lie to me, Niall!"  
Niall sighed.  
"I thought he was different" Niall finally said "but he was not, he is just another jock who doesn't give a damn about me."  
''Cause I'm just a teenage dirtbag, baby." Eleanor started singing "yeah, I'm just a teenage dirtbag baby." Niall laughed and started singing too.  
"Listen to Iron Maiden maybe with me."  
"Oh, yeah, dirtbag, no, he doesn't know what he's missin." Eleanor continued and they both laughed.  
"I see you have improved your vocal techniques." Niall said and they chuckled "I love you El."  
"I love you too Horan!" she said hugging him tightly "Harry doesn't know what he's missing."

 

Next day at school Harry tried to find Niall and talk to him, but Niall had been avoiding him all day.  
At lunch time, they were all sitting in the same table, all except Niall.  
"Where's Niall?" Harry asked.  
"Why do you wanna know?" Eleanor said rudely. "I thought you didn't care about him"  
"I never said I didn't care." Harry defended himself.  
Eleanor was about to say something when Niall arrived.  
"Hey guys." He said taking a seat beside Eleanor.  
"Niall, I've been trying to find you all day." Harry said.  
Niall, who was eating and looking at his food, looked at him and then again at his food.  
"I've been here, in school, all day." Niall replied.  
"I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry" Harry said.  
"Okay." was Niall's answer.  
"Okay?" Harry questioned.  
"Yeah, okay." Niall repeated "What do you want me to say? I accept your apologies Harry, but I'm tired of everyone plying me for a fool so it's not going to be the same between us."  
Eleanor smiled proudly, and everyone at the table ate in silence.

***

"He hates me!" Harry mumbled against his pillow.  
"Yeah, he does." Louis said and Harry threw him a cushion.  
"You're not helping!"  
They were in Harry's bedroom, Harry laying in his bed thinking what to do and Louis texting, probably, Eleanor.  
"El, hates you too, by the way." Louis said.  
"You're my friend, you're supposed to cheer me up and think of a plan with me." Harry explained.  
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry" Louis said shutting off his phone. "Fortunately for you I'm a genius and I already have a plan."  
"And why haven't you told me before?"  
"I'm going to do it now, so listen." Louis said and Harry payed close attention "You're going to sing."

 

***

"He really likes him, you know?" Louis told Eleanor. They both were in Louis' house, laying in his bed, Eleanor was resting her head on Louis' chest.  
"What?" she said.  
"Harry." Louis explained "Harry likes Niall." Louis answered playing Eleanor's hair.  
"He does?" Louis nodded "But the other day… I thought he was-"  
"He's head over heels for him, he was so confused because he never felt that for a boy before."  
"But that doesn't give him the right to treat Niall like that."  
"I know" Louis said.  
"I know Harry is a nice guy, but he hurt Niall, and he could do it again and I don't-"  
"But I hurt you," Louis interrupted her "and you forgave me, and now here we are" He kissed the top of her head.  
Eleanor stayed silent for a few seconds and finally she sighed and said,  
"Okay, what do you want me to do, then?"  
Louis smiled satisfied and kissed her, this time softly on her lips.

***

"Can you tell me again why we came here?" Niall asked his cousin.  
"It's the high school talent show, and even if we don't participate we can come." she said as they entered the room full of people. Everything was dark except for the lights on the stage, where a girl was singing.  
"Hey!" Niall heard Louis say as he came closer to where they were standing.  
"What are you doing here? You don't like these things." Niall questioned once Louis was by his side.  
"Well, I… I came because, you know I…" Louis said trying to think of a coherent answer.  
"I told him to come" Eleanor rescued him.  
"Yeah, that's it" Louis said smiling nervously and Niall gave them a suspicious look.  
"Okay, and now another contestant, please welcome Harry Styles!" The presenter announced and everyone cheered.  
Niall looked to Eleanor and Louis.  
"Is because of that, isn't it? That's why you brought me here and that's why Louis is here." Niall said a little angry.  
"Niall, just listen to him," Eleanor pleaded "then we can leave and you never have to see him again, please?"  
Niall rolled his eyes and looked again at the stage, where Harry was standing, a bit awkwardly.  
"Hello," he said into the microphone "I don't even know why I'm doing this." he mumbled nervously "Well, yeah, I know, I'm doing this because of someone, someone a fell in love with." the whole audience erupted in aww's and Harry smiled and blushed "Yeah, but it turns out that that someone, that someone is a boy." everyone started murmuring "And I messed everything up, I was afraid and I said things a didn't mean. I just wanted to say that I'm really, really sorry Niall." Harry finished, looking directly at Niall, and the music started playing.

"You are so beautiful to me, You are so beautiful to me"

Harry started singing. Niall was just standing there, arms crossed, waiting for it to end.

"Can't you see,  
Your everything I hoped for,  
Your everything I need"

A single tear escaped Niall's eyes and he quickly clean it off. Everything was so confusing for him at that moment. He felt angry at Harry but at the same time he just wanted to run to the stage and kiss him, because he just told the whole high school (or the ones that went to the talent show) that he loved him.

"You are so beautiful to me," Harry finished. "Thank you" he whispered to the microphone as everyone was clapping and cheering. 'Go get your boy!' he heard some random person shout to him, and he did, he ran off stage to go get Niall.  
"Can we leave now?" Niall asked Eleanor.  
"But Niall, Harry-" She tried.  
"Fine, I'll go alone" He said as he left, and at that moment Harry got there.  
"Where's Niall?" He asked confused that he wasn't there.  
"He just left." Eleanor said.  
"I'm sorry man, I really thought it would work." Louis said.  
"Where did he go?" He asked again.  
"Home, I think." Eleanor answered and Harry started running behind Niall.

It was easy to find him, he was already in the high school's halls.  
"Niall!" Harry called "Niall wait!"  
Niall stopped and turned around to look at Harry.  
"Why did you leave?" Harry asked. "I thought-"  
"You thought what Harry? That you would sing to me and everything would be perfect? That I would forgive you?" Niall said almost crying. Harry didn't answer, he just looked down at his feet "This isn't a Disney movie, Harry…"  
"Remember the night we first met?" Harry suddenly said. Yes, of course he remembered. "Since that day, I felt the need to protect you, but I'm the one who hurt you." Harry laughed bitterly. "I'm so sorry Niall!" Harry cried.  
He stayed silent for a moment, thinking of what to do.  
"You will always be my hero." Niall finally said smiling a bit trough the tears. He couldn't be angry at Harry anymore, not when he was crying in front of him, defeated.  
Harry looked at him, eyes filled with hope. Harry lifted his left hand to Niall's cheek and Niall closed his eyes. Harry stepped closer to Niall and brushed Niall's lips with his thumb.  
"Can I…" Harry cleared his throat "Can I kiss you?" he whispered.  
"I'll kill you if you don't." Niall said opening his blue eyes to meet Harry's green ones. They stared at each other for a moment, slightly smiling, before Harry closed the space between, his lips now brushing Niall's ones.  
"Are you going to kiss me or what?" Niall whispered impatiently.  
"Eager." Harry whispered back, smiling, before he pressed their lips together.  
It wasn't quite like Niall had expected. He expected to feel those butterflies everyone talked about but he didn't, he felt a pterodactyls' stampede. It was way better than everything that people had told him how it would be and it became even better when Harry's tongue brushed against his lips, asking for entrance, and he gladly accepted it. It was simply perfect. Harry tasted like mint and chocolate, and his lips were so soft. He didn't want it to stop, he could be kissing this boy forever, but you know, they needed to breathe, so they pulled away, their faces still close to each other's.  
Harry gave him a sweet peck and Niall melted again in Harry's lips.  
"So…" Harry started smiling.  
"So…" Niall repeated smiling too.  
"If I'm your hero, does that make you my princess?" Harry joked.  
"Idiot." Niall chuckled, punching Harry's shoulder, making Harry laugh before he kissed Niall again.

"This was a bad a idea Louis!" The boys heard Eleanor say. Louis and her were trying to find the other boys trough the halls "I'm sure they are shouting at each other and everything will turn out worse that it already was!"  
Niall and Harry laughed.  
"Calm down Eleanor, we need to find them and then-" Louis stopped when he saw them hugging in the middle of the hall with a smile plastered to their faces.  
"And then what?" Eleanor said, and then she saw them too. "What the hell happened here?" She asked confused.  
The boys laughed.  
"We kind of… "Niall explained "Fixed everything."  
"So you two are fine now?" Louis asked.  
"More than fine" Harry answered looking into Niall's eyes.


End file.
